extra credit

I am in a sad and funny predicament. I decided to skip the credit card bit while I was a student. Wise move, right? I avoided the temptation to get into debt that way, made my bank card and checkbook work. Beautiful.

Until I graduate and decide to be a little more organized with the spending…instead of writing down every single purchase in my ledger, I could keep track of one check per month. I was declined for the reward card I applied for because my income is too small this year. I thought perhaps a “recent grad” stipulation would allow me to get a student card, because my income is similar to that of a student, but alas. Typically student cards roll over into normal cards shortly after graduation.

I’m sure there are are a gazillion cards out there that would love to entice me as a young person, plenty with high interest rates and annual fees. I am not interested in racking up debt…I suppose having some credit would be useful for loans and such later on, but I have none and at this rate won’t be getting any any time soon. But it looks like I must have a co-signer.

I remember a passage in a letter of Paul about the Holy Spirit being a deposit for our inheritance, or something like that. That doesn’t really apply to this situation, but the situation made me think of that passage. When we accept the invitation of life to the fullest, we not only get forgiveness and redemption, we receive the Holy Spirit. And that is pretty darn sweet. It means that we aren’t alone, down and out, and abandoned. Perhaps this is a bit too much of a stretch, but the Holy Spirit knows my dejection (rejection?) from the credit struggle. I haven’t really turned to him for comfort, but perhaps I need to…and also to realize that I haven’t been putting my entire trust in God’s provision. He has blessed me with means enough to be out of debt thus far.

It’s a blow to my pride that I can’t strike it out on my own like I wanted to…even in this small way. I’d almost prefer to pay for rent or groceries or transportation or all three just so I could count that additional amount as “salary” even if it ended up the same. Just let it pass through my hands first.